Many lamp socket designs have been provided in the prior art. However, these prior art lamp socket assemblies are generally rather complicated with numerous parts and therefore costly to manufacture and assemble. Not only have such lamp assemblies been rather costly to manufacture, but servicing such assemblies, for instance for replacement of burned out bulbs, can be quite time consuming and may result in failure to properly install the lamp seal with attendant corrosion problems.
Some prior art lamp socket assemblies have used a bayonet type of socket which uses a compression spring to ensure proper contact with the bulb. Such sockets are undesirable as the compression spring causes the socket to have a rather high profile. Still other prior art lamp socket assemblies have sought to achieve a low profile by using potted contact structures. These devices are expensive to construct and furthermore are difficult to service.
Still other prior art lamp socket assemblies have been provided wherein the base of the unit is resilient and forms the seal for the assembly. This type of structure is easily over-torqued and damaged when it is installed in an automobile.
It is therefore desired to provide a lamp socket assembly which is simple in construction and which has a low profile. It is furthermore desired to provide a lamp socket assembly which be manufactured using conventional molding and which minimizes the parts required for assembly.